Mini-blinds have been known and used for the selective admission of light into a room and for privacy. Mini-blinds are installed at a window opening and include a series of slats which can be pivoted between an open horizontal position and a closed position wherein the slats are substantially in a vertical configuration.
A conventional mini-blind includes a lift cord inserted through a series of slots within the slats and rung cords positioned underneath and supporting each slat. The rung cords are attached to a pair of ladder cords which are generally perpendicular to the horizontal slats. The lift cords are threaded through the slots in the slats and through an access hole in the bottom rail, then knotted. The ladder cords are brought around the bottom rail and tucked into the same access hole. A plug is then inserted into the access hole to hold all of the cords in place. Typically, the plug protrudes from the bottom rail, thereby allowing excess light to come into the room. It would be advantageous to have a bottom rail flush with the bottom of the window opening, while still allowing a user to adjust the mini-blind for a particular window size.
In order to vertically adjust a typical mini-blind, the plugs are removed from the bottom rail, the lift and ladder cords are cut, the lift cord is threaded through the hole in the bottom rail and knotted, then the lift cord and ladder cords are recapped with the plug. As is evident from the above description, this is often a cumbersome and tedious process, especially if the mini-blind is already hanging and the cords are tensioned, wherein there is a tendency for the lift cord to snap out of several of the slots in the slats. The cords, therefore, often need to be reinserted through the slots in the slats and held in place to facilitate the knotting and plugging of the cords into the bottom rail. There are at least two lift cords in each blind and this problem is compounded when there are several lift cords in one mini-blind. It would be advantageous to have a mini-blind assembly for which the lilt and ladder cords could be held in place prior to the cutting of the cords. Additionally, it would be advantageous to significantly reduce the amount of time, effort and manual dexterity currently required to resize a mini-blind. It would also be advantageous to design an adjustable mini-blind so that a user would not have to rethread and knot any of the cords when the vertical length is adjusted.